This invention relates generally to the fields of metamaterials, spectral analysis and electromagnetic radiation detection, and more specifically to the use of metamaterials for the detection and spectral analysis of electromagnetic radiation.
Another aspect of the invention relates generally to the fields of metamaterials and wave analysis, and more specifically to phase discrimination analysis on a monochromatic waveform utilizing metamaterials.
Still a further aspect of the invention relates generally to the fields of metamaterials and wave analysis, and more specifically to expanding or compressing electromagnetic radiation pulses using metamaterials.
An integral part of systems in the area of both material detection and “see through walls” systems, as well as other systems used for detection, are the detector elements. In different embodiments of these systems, the detector elements can have differing requirements. Some of the requirements can include the following.                Operating in the gigahertz to terahertz (GHz-THz) frequency ranges.        Performing processing on the detected information in the GHz-THz frequency ranges (In current systems it is extremely difficult to perform processing in the GHz-THz frequency ranges due to computational power limitations. Current methods for auto-correlation analysis were shown to be efficient at frequencies of up to 20-30 GHz.)        Having a small enough size to be portable. This can allow a system that includes the detector elements to be installed in the field with relative ease.        Sensitivity is another important aspect of the detector requirements. The detector elements may have requirements to be sensitive enough to detect even low-energy signals which are of interest to the overall system.        
Accordingly, at least some of the objections of the present invention are to overcome the deficiencies and limitations in the prior art noted above.